In the 1960s, the space program was hot but so was underwater exploration. Jacques Cousteau not only spread the word on ocean science, but he helped design underwater laboratories where scientists could live full-time.

More than 60 labs were set up but eventually, the funding disappeared. And now the Miami Herald is reporting that the last underwater lab could be closed by the end of the year.

“When I was young, I thought we'd all be living down in the sea in condos,” Craig Cooper, for operations director for Aquarius told the Herald. “But I found out the ocean is a tougher place than it looks to be from the surface.”